Wedding Ring
by hannahfftry1
Summary: A scene which I'd have really liked to have seen on screen! Robert making the decision to finally take off his wedding ring. Fits with what we've seen so far.
**One shot, an idea for a missing scene, with Robert and his wedding ring. Set some time in February, when he knows about Aaron's abuse, but it's not yet common knowledge in the village.**

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Robert sat at home, nursing a glass of whisky, thinking hard. It was late but Victoria and Adam hadn't yet come home so he had the place to himself. Some peace in which to think. He poured another measure of whisky into his glass, needing something to take the edge off. What Aaron had been through, what he'd finally confided to Robert had snapped everything in his own life into focus. Some things just didn't matter when compared to that horror he'd had to live through. Also, when Aaron had told him, Robert realised just how much he loved Aaron, how much he both needed him, and needed to be there for him, to get through this.

As he took another sip, his wedding ring caught the light. He wasn't quite sure why he was still wearing it. After Aaron had blown their affair, their was no way Chrissie was going to take him back. He had tried for a while, but it was obvious that a gay affair wasn't something she could forgive. Not that he could blame her. What the hell had he been thinking in the first place? Robert had had everything he wanted. Money, business, expensive house and cars, dream life. And he hadn't been able to stay away from Aaron for long enough to keep it all. He hadn't been able to help himself, he'd wanted Aaron badly at the time. Too badly to stop, though he knew he could lose everything. Could and, as it turned out, did. Or at least, everything he thought that mattered at the time.

He shouldn't still be wearing it. Even had there been hope for him and Chrissie, he realised that she wasn't the one he really wanted to be with. He supposed he was still wearing it for two reasons. Firstly he didn't want to admit that the perfect life he'd spent so long building, that he'd been living for nearly a year was over, secondly because it meant admitting to himself that he was bisexual. Even thinking it to himself, he shied away from the word. He'd never really admitted it to himself. Despite sleeping with Aaron for months, he justified it as a bit of fun, nothing serious. Until suddenly it wasn't.

Robert drained the rest of his whisky and put the glass down, between his hands which he lay flat on the table. The gold of the ring looked uncomfortable to him now. Slowly he pulled the ring off, struggling a little at first because it'd been sat there for a while. He put the ring on the table and looked at his bare hands. That was better. Chrissie was no longer the person he felt for, and he knew it. To accept it felt almost freeing.

He was about to get up when Victoria came home. "You all right?" she asked, sitting opposite him, in spite of how late it was.

"Yeah," he said. Victoria saw his wedding ring on the table.

"Stopped living in denial, have you?" she asked.

"It's over," he said.

"I think it's been over for a while," she said.

"Yes," he agreed, unsure why he'd been able to admit it before now. "I… I'm no longer fighting it."

"Is it about Aaron?" she asked quietly. "This realisation."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I have eyes," she said. "I know you care for him."

"It's more than that," Robert said before he could stop himself. "A lot more."

"Then what's stopping you being together?" Victoria spoke quietly.

"He's got… a lot of other things going on right now." Robert shook his head. "I can't be with him right now, he needs to… deal with things first."

"You're not going to tell me what, are you?"

"I can't," he said firmly. He wasn't going there, not with anyone.

"Why did you have an affair, Robert?" she asked bluntly.

He shook his head, not ignoring the question but more trying to get his thoughts in order. "I don't know why I did it at first. I carried on because by a certain point there was no other option. Not for me."

"Robert…"

"I loved him," he said, finally admitting it to someone else. Saying it out loud. "I still do, Vic."

"Then go and get him," she said, smiling at him.

"It's not that simple."

"It could be," she said.

"No, right now it really, really isn't," he said firmly. Something in his tone must have given him away, how serious he was because she didn't argue.

"I'm glad to see you've taken the ring off," she said quietly. "Stop hiding from who you are."

"Yeah," he said. "Thanks Vic."

"I'm going to bed," she said.

"Night," he said quietly. He didn't go to bed, he sat up for hours, thinking of Aaron. Wondering if he'd call if he needed him. Hoping. It wasn't until two in the morning that he managed to get to bed, his mind still full of Aaron. He hadn't even noticed he'd left his wedding ring on the table. It was no longer important.

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 **Thanks for reading, if you have a second, let me know what you think!**


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